


before the days of no surrender

by coupe_de_foudre



Category: Justified
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Love Bites, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24306778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coupe_de_foudre/pseuds/coupe_de_foudre
Summary: “Mama-” he starts, but she raises her free hand and stops him mid-sentence.“Son, you wanna take a seat and mind explaining why you're home so late?”
Relationships: Boyd Crowder/Raylan Givens
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	before the days of no surrender

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a random idea I had based on the line from Boyd in Season 5, "the only explaining I've ever done in my life was to my mama when she caught me sneaking in after my curfew". 
> 
> I'm 100% here for Boyd being a mama's boy and having a really close relationship with her. I can't remember if they mention when she dies in the show or not so if this is inaccurate I apologise xD

Boyd sneaks in through the front door, much like he does most nights, greeted by a dead silence. It’s well gone 2am and he’s tired, blissed out from the past few hours but about ready to drop. Especially when he remembers that he’s supposed to be taking Bowman to school early tomorrow for some stupid meeting – Boyd hadn’t paid attention to the reason; he’d been to annoyed about not being able to kiss Raylan if his brother's in the truck.

Expecting to creep upstairs and try to catch at least a couple hours of sleep before his alarm, Boyd is more than a little surprised when he finds the kitchen light on. 

Sitting at the table, a mug in front of her and a lit cigarette balanced between her fingers, is his mama. She meets his eyes, face unreadable as she takes a slow drag of her cigarette and blows it out in the opposite direction.

“Mama-” he starts, but she raises her free hand and stops him mid-sentence. 

“Son, you wanna take a seat and mind explaining why you're home so late?” It’s spoken like a question but Boyd knows better than to argue with his mama. She gestures to the seat opposite her, which he takes.

The weak light swinging above the table surrounds them in a soft orange bubble, the dark of the house forgotten for the time being. His mama’s hair is tied up, fiery red turned almost golden under the light, and Boyd finds himself smiling at it.

She pushes her mug over in his direction, nodding her head for him to take a sip. Boyd does so, grateful when the sweetness of the lukewarm cocoa hits his mouth. The recipe has remained a secret, passed down to his mama from her mama for generations. Boyd hopes that before he leaves home she’ll share the secret with him.

“So,” she says, voice barely a whisper in the quiet of the house. “Where've you been, Boyd?”

With a sigh, Boyd places the mug back down to the table but keeps his fingers wrapped tight around it. “I was at the batting cage. Raylan needed someone to help him prepare for this week’s game. You know the one; Bowman’s been goin’ on ‘bout it for days.” She nods, tapping the ash from her cigarette into the little tray on the windowsill. “Guess we just lost track of time. Sorry.”

Well, he wasn’t lying. They definitely lost track of time. Though, not from batting. There was a certain amount of making out involved, Boyd being pinned to the fence and hooking his legs around Raylan's waist. 

His mama hums, seeming deep in thought, and Boyd shifts awkwardly under her scrutinizing gaze. He shouldn’t worry. This isn’t the first time he and Raylan have been late back home and usually it is because they were doing something innocent like practising baseball.

But then his mama glances down to his neck, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raising and a look of understanding passes over her face. She smiles, soft and small but warm. 

There’s a beat of silence and boyd desperately wants to break it, but he’s not sure what she’s smiling at so he can’t say anything without possibly making things worse. So he just bites his tongue and waits it out, tapping his fingers against the mug.

“Go to bed, Boyd.” she says, eventually. 

He sighs, standing up and glancing down at her. There’s a rare clarity in her eyes as she smiles at him and for a moment she looks like she wants to say something else but decides against it. 

Boyd isn’t sure what it is, but something about that smile feels reassuring.

On his way past, he dips down to press a kiss to the top of her head and she grabs his hand, squeezing his fingers tight for a second. 

He heads upstairs, stepping into the bathroom to wash up quickly. He flicks on the light, wincing at the harsh contrast. 

Glancing in the mirror, his stomach drops. Cursing his boy under his breath, Boyd pulls at the already stretched collar of his tee to better inspect the damage. There’s a very obvious plum red bruise still fresh on the side of his throat by his collarbone, the ghost of hot lips and teeth still lingering on his skin. His hair is a mess too, more so than usual, and Boyd knows that he has Raylan's wandering hands to thank for that.

Running the tap, Boyd splashes cold water over his face and quickly brushes his teeth before heading to his room down the hall. 

He tries desperately not to stress over whether his mama had noticed anything; it seems stupid really because it was hardly hidden. Besides, that smile had said it all. Now that he thinks about it, the odd look on her face made a lot more sense if she’d seen it. 

However, she surely can’t know about Raylan and him. Can she? For all she knows, Boyd could’ve just been lying about the batting cage and had actually been on a date with some girl from his class.

No matter how many times Boyd told himself that, he couldn’t get the look of what was oddly close to acceptance on his mama's face out of his mind.

Although, she doesn’t bring it up in the morning. Not even when Bowman makes a joke about Boyd being a pushover letting some girl mark her claim on him like that. His mama had sat quietly at the table and sipped her coffee, smiling at him when he sent her a worried look before telling his brother to shut up.

The matter is dropped and Boyd is left to wonder what his mama knows.

**Author's Note:**

> I suck at endings so much!! Thank you for reading though!


End file.
